Charlie Hirsh (book character)
link titleFor the character from the film, see Charlie Delgado. Charlie Hirsh: Charlie Hirsh is the drummer in the band who plays the kongas, timbales and bongos. He is struggling with the fact that he is alive instead of his still-born twin brother, Aaron, who lives in his imagination. Unable to choose his own path, he relies on a coin toss to make decisions, and that, along with his crush on Mo, it convinces him to give the band a shot. He shares his first kiss with Mo at the end of the first book, and as of Lemonade Mouth: Puckers Up, he and Mo are an official couple. As the second book progresses, Mo and Charlie's romantic relationship continues to heat up----they are still a couple at the end of the book----but Charlie ends up getting jealous when he begins to think Mo is attracted to Rajeev Kumar, who's staying with Mo and her family for the summer. He later apologizes to Mo for his doubts. Story Lines: Early Life: Since he was a kid, Charlie believed he was an only child, until he found out on his fourteenth birthday that his twin brother, Aaron, died when they were born. Due to this, Charlie began to struggle with descision-making, school and relationships with his parents. Before the band, Charlie's closest best friend is A.V Club geek, Lyle Dwarkin, who intends to help Charlie with anything possible. In addition, Charlie has had a long-standing crush on Mo Banerjee, one of the most popular girls in his grade, but due to the fact that she was secretly going out with soccer star, Scott Pickett, Charlie began to wonder if he was good enough for Mo, or any other girl. He is also mentioned to be A+ good at Metal Shop. 'Book 1:' In study hall, Charlie has a dream about him playing his drums and his crush, Mo, is dancing. But unfortunately, he keeps on getting distracted by the voice of his dead twin brother, Aaron. Then, he wakes up from his dream after getting hit with a spitball. Then, he notices Scott Pickett, the school bully Ray Beech and Dean Eagler, engrossed in their studies. Then, Charlie realizes that Scott was the one who threw the spitball at him. Charlie, angered, attempts to throw a spitball at Scott, but ends up hitting Mo instead. In detention, Charlie and the other kids start playing a song that was played in a radio commercial. The next day, Charlie, Mo, Stella, Wen and Olivia are called down to the music room where they expect to be in trouble, but are shocked that Mrs. Reznik, the teacher, wants them to perform in the school's annual Holiday Talent Show as a band. Charlie begins to think of the idea as social suicide, but later changes his mind at a meeting at Bruno's Pizza Planet in order for him to get closer to Mo (unaware that he's being a little selfish). At the band's first rehearsal, everybody gets into a fight and starts yelling, all except Olivia, who remains silent. After they work things out, Charlie learns not to judge a book by its cover and becomes more sympathetic towards the others. Later, Mo and Charlie wonder the halls, and they notice Ray Beech and the Patties with Olivia. Ray and the Patties begin to use traumatic, sadistic slurs against Olivia. Humiliated, Olivia falls silent. Mo and Charlie realize Ray is emotionally hurting Olivia on purpose. Horrified, the two confront Ray to spare their friend further harassment. Patty Norris mocks Olivia, asking Charlie whether or not Olivia is his "girlfriend," which Charlie begs to differ. When Charlie tries to speak out, Ray physically threatens him. Stella intervenes by spitting her lemonade in Ray's face, in which Ray calls Stella "Lemonade Mouth," and Charlie says that's how the got their name. At a later rehearsal, the band members take a break. Olivia goes to get a lemonade, but comes back, clearly upset. Charlie asks her what's wrong, and Olivia explains that the Mel's Organic Frozen Lemonade dispenser is being removed from the school. Stella and Charlie soon find out it's because of a deal with the new scoreboard. The night before the Halloween Bash, Charlie calls Mo and is shocked to hear his friend burst into tears. Mo tearfully tells him that she caught her boyfriend and Charlie's rival, Scott Pickett, making out with his ex-girlfriend Lynn Westerberg. While Charlie comforts her, Aaron pops into his head and begins taunting and bullying him into asking Mo out. Unsuccessful, Aaron torments Charlie even more, saying he is hopeless and he'll never win Mo's heart because he was too late. The next night, at the Halloween Bash, Charlie, Stella and Wen find Olivia in the bathroom, who appears to be physically fine but badly shaken. Charlie, Stella and Wen mannage to calm Olivia down. The band members begin to play their first song, but Olivia forgets the words, so Stella has them start over. As they finish, Stella makes a speach opposing the descisions for the school, but the vice principal, Mr. Brenigan shuts them down. Charlie later on meets at Olivia's house with Wen, Stella and Mo to console Olivia after one of her cats, Nancy, dies. When the band mates worry about what Brenigan might do to them, Charlie gives them a motivating pep talk by saying they did the right thing and no matter what happens, all they have to do is stick together and that their friendship is inseparable, and nobody can do anything to take it away from them. Soon, Charlie tells his friends about his twin brother who died at birth. The fallowing Monday, Charlie gets called down to Brenigan's office, and finds Olivia, Stella, Wen and Mo already there. Inside, Brenigan intially acts hostile towards them, and when Olivia asks, "So what are you going to do with us?" he tells them they'll get a week of detention, and that they are all disqualified from the Holiday Talent Show. Later, with his friend, Lyle's help, Charlie scores Lemonade Mouth a gig at Bruno's Pizza Planet, with skyrockets their popularity. As good things rise their spirirts, things get worse and worse one at a time. At a gig a Bruno's, Ray Beech begins to openly in insult the band members and call them names and a riot gets summanded. After the fight ends, the band mates get banned from playing there ever again. The next day, at the medical clinic, Charlie admits to Mo that he loves her as more than a friend, but he never had the chance to tell her in the right way because he didn't want to screw up their friendship. Mo instantly turns him down, delivering a stinging comment, leaving Charlie devastated. He goes home and works out his anger on his drums, however, he leaves the tea kettle on the stove for too long. Realizing this, Charlie rushes up the stairs, grabs the handle, but unfortunately, he severely burns his right hand, yelling in pain, and he immediately gets submitted to the hospital, where he calls Wen via cell phone. Later, Charlie gets called down to the Opequonsett Middle School, where the Mel's Lemonade machine is going to be removed. Stella comes up with an idea, so they lie down in front of the delivery truck, but unfortunately, they get arrested. Later, at Catch a RI-Zing Star, the band mates try to perform one of their songs, but due to their mishaps and injuries that day, they can't play. The audience then begins to sing their song to thank Stella, Olivia, Mo, Charlie and Wen for all they've done, and gives them a standing ovation. Later, Charlie and Mo profess their love for one another, and the two are shown kissing in a thunder storm, and Charlie finally lets go of Aaron. 'Book 2:' It's the summer between 9th and 10th grade, and Mo and Charlie's relationship continues, however, Charlie is worried and jealous that Mo might be falling for her old next door neighbor, Rajeev, who is more attractive, making Charlie question whether or not he's good enough for Mo. However, after Mo points out that he is over-reacting and that she will never cheat on him, Charlie realizes that he was the first and only boy to make Mo feel loved, sexy, and flawless. He soon apologizes to Mo for his doubts. Lemonade Mouth gets into Decker and Smythe, a huge corporation that makes the hottest bands in America a success, however, they quit the agency when they realize the company is making them into some kind of radical, publicity stunt to turn them into something they're not. The band experienced physical touch-ups such as slimming them down, touching up acne and changing eye color. They soon learn that the website Lyle and Naomi posted is becoming more popular by the minute, with people downloading songs and posting positive, up-beat comments, showing that Lemonade Mouth is already successful enough. Personality: Charlie is considered the most sympathetic in the group next to Olivia. Shy, kind-hearted, good-natured, sensitive, and compassionate, he is very confused with going his own way. He always stands up for himself and his friends and doesn't accept abuse of any kind, mostly because he has a lot of common sense and always uses his head. He wants people to know that he's smart and he's trying his best to get by like everybody else. He can sometimes be pretty sarcastic to those that bother him, but is portrayed as a very caring indevidual. Although occasionally a bit of an ass, whenever someone is hurting or feeling rejected, Charlie is willing to go to that person's side and offer friendship, compassion, or comfort, as shown in his friendships with Mo and Olivia. He tries to see good in everybody and is usually very forgiving. He can definitely be loud and rambunctious when playing the drums, which he uses as therapy for stress. Charlie, much like Stella, has a fiery temper, which causes him to get into angry outbursts whenever annoyed, stressed, jealous or upset, usually in the regards of Mo or any of his friends getting hurt. Although he absolutely hates Scott Pickett, it is shown in the second book that he is a lot more mild about about it, and when Wen is having difficulties with his dad hiring Scott, Charlie comforts him by saying that Scott probably changed by now and that some things just take time. Throughout the first book, Charlie's character slowly develops from this disorganized kid who is reluctant to start a band with Wen, Stella, Mo and Olivia due to it being social suicide to a more smart, focused, evolved person with open eyes. In addition, Charlie's low self-esteem has been the main focus of both Lemonade Mouth books; whenever he looks down at himself, his dead brother Aaron wold pop into his head and mock him, but this is only from him continuelessly tearing himself down, and also when he gets jealous over Mo, who is now his girlfriend, when she begins spending time with Bengali hottie and her old next door neighbor, Rajeev, which makes Charlie look at himself as not being "good enough" when he realizes Rajeev has almost all of his qualities, even the ability to be a killer, kick-ass dancer and choreographer. Charlie's insecurities about his future and wanting to be a good boyfriend are subjects touched up in the second book, however, he is later touched when Mo reveals that she is proud to have him as her boyfriend, which makes their relationship go stronger, as they are still a couple at the end of the book. Charlie is also shown to be insecure about how he looks, and it is also shown on two occasions that he wants to change his appearance, first with Scott and then with Rajeev. Charlie loves escapism in any form, usually from stress, insecurities and rejection. Appearance: Charlie is described as having a sloppy appearance and being a little bit on the chubby side like Olivia, with long, frizzy hair. He wears clothes that are usually very messy, due to the fact that he's always late for school and having disorganization problems. Quotes: Yeah, I'm really busy too. Olivia. You okay? You'd better leave her alone. Me. I guess I'd have to be the one to make you. Look, let's try and be reasonable. We can talk this through. She just. . . . left? How you doing, Olivia? If anybody's a petty tyrant, it's you, Stella! I like Sloppy Joes. You're out of your mind! You know what? I hate to admit it, but Stella's right. I didn't even notice it at first, but now that I do, I think it's totally uncool that they changed us. Sure, we agreed they could do an ad----but we didn't agree that they could do that. Category:Book characters